The G20 Summit and my Deaf Granny

As if it wasn't bad enough that I live right across from the G20's security zone.

As if it wasn't depressing enough that they're spending more than a billion dollars to protect this Shrimp and Caviar Summit.

No amount of righteous government bluster about living in post-9/11 protection paranoia, last week's bank firebombing in Ottawa or the precedent of hosting two back-to-back summits can explain how an $18-million security tab for the G20 in Pittsburgh last September, which involved 4,000 police, must balloon to a billion dollars in Toronto requiring 10,000 cops on the ground.

This is Canada not Kandahar.

Just to give Stephen Harper another expensive photo-op. Even though the money could have been spent on so many other things. Like helping  poor kids, the sick, and the homeless.

As if it wasn't scary enough that I already feel like I'm living in a police state.















This is a bad photo of one of two military helicopters hovering noisily over the waterfront  the other night. At three-o-clock in the MORNING.

As if all that wasn't horrible enough, now I find out they're planning to assault our ears with these fascist weapons.

Originally designed for the U.S. Navy, LRADs can emit ear-blasting sounds so high in frequency they transcend normal thresholds of pain.

That can damage your hearing with this hideous sound....



Great eh? 

You know I've always had a special feeling for deaf people. One of my grannies was totally deaf for most of her life. She was able to read lips, but never learned sign language, and refused to get a cochlear implant.

So when I was a boy I learned to write, or summarize things, by writing down what other people said on pieces of paper and handing them to her. She lived in a world of silence and I was happy to be her ears. 

So I never take hearing for granted, and the thought that people would deliberately target the ear drums of others horrifies me. 

Anyway since it's the weekend, and I wanted to end on a happy note, I saw this video today of a baby getting his cochlear implant activated...and hearing the voice of his mother for the first time.

And I thought it was cute...



Yes indeed. As my  awesome Scottish granny would have said, hearing is precious.You don't treat your own people like enemies.

And of course, those Cons are precious BASTARDS.

Have a great weekend everyone...